Improvement in car brake and starter



A WHITE. Gar Brake and Starter.

No. 217,252. Patented July 8,1879; I

-Witnesses: Inventor:

vwaflngy.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ALBERT WHITE, or sT. THOMAS, ONTARIO, CANADA.

IMPRO VEMENT IN CARBRAKE AND STARTER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,252, dated July 8, 1879; application filed April 22, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ALBERT WHITE, of St. Thomas, in the county of Elgin and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements on a Combined Oar Brake and Starter; and I do hereby declare that the following description of my said invention, taken in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawings, forms a full, clear, and exact specification, which will enable others skilled in the art to, which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has general reference to a novel car brake and starter; and it consists in the peculiar combination of parts and details of construction, as hereinafter first fully described, and then pointed out inthe claims.

In the drawings, which serve to illustrate.

my invention more fully, Figure 1 is a planof a car truck andplatform provided with my improved brake and starter. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal sectional elevation in line was of Fig. 1.

Like parts are designated by corresponding letters of reference in all the figures.

The object of my present invention is the production of adevice which shall effectually retard and arrest the motion of a railway-car, and assist in again starting the same, said device to be so constructed as to be readily applied to any existing railway or street car.

To attain this end I provide an ordinary carframe, A, with two cross-beams, B B, placed a sufficient distance apart to admit the mechanism hereinafter described betweenthem.

These beams I provide withsuitable bearings fora shaft, 0, having on one of its ends a bevel-wheel, D, in front of the cross-beam B, and behind the same a collar, E. Upon the shaft 0, I further arrange a conical sleeve, F, having a groove, f, wherewith engage the prongs of with eyes a on the collar E. The rear ends of 1 these springs penetrate the crossbeam B, and

have an adjusting bolt, R, running through them, to give tension to the springs, in a man- :ner hereinafter to be referred to, by means of nuts S.

' The'operation of this device is substantially as follows: Supposing a car in motion to be @braked down, the parts previous to applyingmy brake arrangement being in such a position that the two bevel-wheels I I are disi iconnected from the bevel-wheel D, the springs 7 ;P relaxed. and the axle H with the car-wheels S in motion, by throwing either one of the bevel-pinions I 1 into mesh with the bevel-- Wheel D, the latter is caused to revolve, and with it the shaft 0 and collar E, which collar, by means of the chains Q, causes the springs" J? to be bent by pulling them toward the shaft- C. These springs, being made of heavy steel properly tempered, offer sufficient resistance, so as to stop the car by the time they are drawn tight and close up to the collar E. Now, the opposite bevel-pinion is caused to engage the bevel-wheel D, which, being under the influence of both pinions, neutralizes their opposite energy, and thus stops the motion of the axle H and wheels S, causing them to slide upon the rails in case their motion was not already arrested by the action of the springs P. In this position of the parts the said springs P are retained in a state of ten sion until the proper pinion, Ior I, is disen gaged from the bevel-wheel D, when said springs, tending to unwind their chains Q, revolve the shaft 0 and its appurtenances in the proper direction, and thus cause a forward or sired to back after stopping, the pinion I would,

be disengaged, and the pinion I left in gear with the bevel-wheel D.

In this manner the accumulated power of the springs P can be made available for either backing up or going ahead after stoppage, by actuating the corresponding levers L L, which will be readily learned after a few trials.

The momentum attained by a car in motion diiferin g with the speed or the load, provision must be made to vary the leverage of the device actuating the springs P, so as to cause their tension to take place in a longer or shorter space of time. To accomplish this result I have placed the cone-sleeve F upon the shaft 0, upon which the chains Q will wind when bending the springs P. This cone is arranged to slide part way into the collar E, and, thereby increasing in diameter, decreases the leverage upon the springs, which will thereby offer greater resistance to the momentum of the car as its diameter increases.

To avail myself of this principle, I have connected the sliding cone F with the hand-levers 0, so as to bring it within easy reach of the driver, who, by properly actuating these levers, increases or decreases the leverage of the cone in proportion with the speed or the load of the car, using hisjudgment as to the distance the said sleeve should slide toward the collar E to produce the desired result--a matter which by afew trials can be readily ascertained.

To adjust the tension of the springs aside from the adjustment attainable by the cone F, I place the adj listing-bolt B through the springs I, which, when drawn closer together, increases, or when slacked up reduces, the resistance of the springs, in a manner readily understood.

It will be further observed that the action of my brake is positive, no matter whether the car is going ahead or astern, and that after being stopped it can be started in either direction by simply actuating the levers L L in the proper order.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure to me by Letters Patent- 1. In a carstarter, in combination with a car-axle and two independent opposite gearwheels feathered thereon, a supplemental shaft having a fixed gear-wheel, and connected by chains winding on a conical drum to springs, the arrangement and construction of said parts being such that when either sliding gear-wheel is thrown into engagement with said fixed gear-wheel. the movement of the car will subject the springs to tension, as and for the pur- A pose set forth.

2. In car brakes and starters, the combination, with the shaft 0, having mechanism for rotation, as described, of the cone F, upon which the chains Q are wound, whereby the leverage of the brake is increased or decreased, substantially as and for the purpose indicated.

3. The combination, with the shaft H,having the sliding pinions I I, of the shaft (3, bevelwheel D, collar E, cone F, lever G, and the springs P, as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have hereto set my hand and affixed my seal in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

ALBERT WHITE. [L. s.]

Witnesses:

MICHAEL J. STARK, J. A. McIN'rosH. 

